Summer Citrus from South Africa has announced that their first conventional vessel carrying citrus to the port of Philadelphia was discharged in week 25.

The Prince of Seas vessel carried around 3,000 pallets of citrus, with two-thirds of the total volume containing Easy Peelers and the rest being Navel Oranges. From now on, weekly shipments are expected to include Star Ruby and Cara-Cara oranges.

Summer Citrus informed that for the remainder of the season, they will have weekly arrivals into the port of Philadelphia on either their dedicated conventional vessels or the bigger MSC container loads, as well as some Maersk container vessels.

On the production side, they informed of a healthy crop with almost 30% of their initial estimates already packed for the US market, and 23% already shipped.

"As we operate within a Mediterranean climate, we have had healthy rainfall which is needed and welcome to secure sustained growth in the production area," they said in a release. 

They added that as the season starts, everything is good and all is going according to plan and schedule.

"Here in Cape Town, we have a group of focused service providers, starting with 1) exporters, 2) bilateral entities, 3) shipping lines, 4) the port of Cape Town and many more 5) supply chain and logistical service providers with a focus on executing this program with excellence," Summer Citrus sais. 

"We pride ourselves in our forward planning and commitment to serve the US market with fresh and weekly supply of citrus fruit.  As we work with a commodity with an ever-changing lifecycle along with operating in a challenging environment, we address unforeseen challenges as they occur, and we adjust accordingly very quickly," they added. 

Photo by Summer citrus of South Africa